Heat Transfer Performance Study on Several Composite Phase Change Materials for Battery Thermal Management

Lithium battery temperatures will increase if the heat produced during the charging and discharging procedures is not promptly vented externally. Fewer investigations have been conducted on materials that can retain good flexibility at room temperature and shape stability at high temperatures under the existing thermal management system for phase change materials (PCM). In this study, a particular kind of flexible composite PCM (CPCM) at room temperature is created to address the issue of heat transfer between the PCM and the power battery. The characteristics of hardness, room-temperature flexibility, form stability at high temperature, and thermal conductivity are compared with those of three other thermally induced flexible CPCMs. The flexibility at room temperature of the new CPCM is demonstrated by the results, which makes assembly easier and helps further lower the contact thermal resistance. Charge–discharge test comparisons of the battery modules employing the chosen CPCM and thermally induced CPCM are performed to further evaluate their thermal management capabilities. The thermally induced CPCM exhibits larger maximum temperature profiles at the discharge rates of 1C, 2C, and 3C than the room-temperature flexible CPCM. The variations in maximum temperatures are 0.96, 1.48, and 2.08 °C.